1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transportable container assembly for rapid erection of buildings. An example of a building which might employ such a container assembly is a mobile hospital, which may be set up temporarily during an epidemic or catastrophe, or in a battle zone, for the purpose of treating sick or injured individuals in the impacted region, and from there may be moved quickly to a new location to be re-erected for service while the sick and injured at the new location are treated, and so forth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such buildings are frequently comprised of containers in which the necessary fixtures are pre-installed, to the extent such pre-installation is possible. Since these containers are transported on open truck-beds, the dimensions of each such container must correspond to customary and permissible dimensions employed in highway transport. The width limitations thus imposed are inadequate for most practical-use situations, in that they result in limitation of the interior width of the building to about 2.40 m.
As a result of this width limitation, a combination of several containers must be constructed in order to have a sufficiently wide floor surface in the building. In this connection, two solutions to the problems are employed in practice. Several containers are erected independently side-by-side, and after complete or partial removal of their mutually-facing side walls the containers are joined together on their longitudinal sides. Alternatively, several containers which fit into each other are employed, which can be withdrawn telescopically in the horizontal direction perpendicular to their longitudinal dimension. Both of these solutions have their drawbacks.
Under the first-mentioned solution, three containers are needed for a building of width, e.g., 7.20 m. This requires that either three tractor vehicles be available or that one tractor make three trips to the erection point (if only one tractor is available). This is costly, and in the latter case is also time-consuming. Special hoisting devices and extensive other equipment are needed for erecting the containers and joining them together. The time required for the erecting and joining is also excessive.
Under the second-mentioned solution it is practically impossible to achieve a threefold increase in the container floor space, between the inner containers in the telescoped set are necessarily narrower than the outer containers. In the telescopically extended position there is an annoying step at the boundary between individual containers, in particular on the floor. Further, the mechanical or hydraulic mechanisms required for telescopically drawing out the inner containers, which containers may be up to 12 m long and 2.5 m high, are quite expensive. Moreover, the necessary equipment and fixtures may be installed only in the innermost container. The equipment to be used in the other containers must be shipped separately and may be installed only after the telescopically extended position has been attained.